stereotypes

What's a stereotype? Are you stereotypical? Is it a derogatory term or a useful one?

I don't think I am easy to stereotype but I was chatting to a man once who nudged me into a stereotypical position by asking me if I was going shopping. I am female and in some quarters people believe that women enjoy recreational shopping. I don't.
Scottish and Yorkshire stereotypes include frugal and dour sorts. Aren't black people supposed to be good at sports and singing? And accountants of any origin are likely to be boring.
While I don't dismiss stereotypes I think it's useful to consider how a character is portrayed. It might not work to have a nursery nurse with an abrupt manner, a dark side and no patience but you might be able to create a vicar who is free of the tea and cake, church fetes and overt politeness without her losing her integrity.

I've identified a group of people who are often stereotyped. Try identifying those attitudes and characteristics that are used to typify them and then create a character who doesn't fit the template.
When adjusting the stereotype don't head for the polar opposite. Look for subtle characteristics somewhere between opposite ends of a spectrum.

Have a go.

School teacher.

Drummer.

Social worker.

Confectioner.

Plastic surgeon.

Actor.

Hairdresser.

Dinner lady.

Prisoner

Office worker.

You might find that you are liberated by tweaking stereotypical expectations or you might come to the conclusion that they exist for a reason. It depends on what type you are.

Diary writing

I've just finished reading Any Human Heart by William Boyd. (Thank you Roy for loaning this book to me. I finally got around to it and enjoyed every page).
The book takes the form of the diary of Logan Mountstuart from boyhood to old age. It is meticulously thought out so that it is clear to see how events in one part of his life have an impact on what happens to him at another stage. As in all lives. It is the story of a life that has contained tremendous high points - he meets Pablo Picasso and Ernest Hemmingway - and terrible lows - his experiences in WWII were bleak.

It's a big book, as a lifetime diary would be, divided into phases of life. Boyd seamlessly grows and ages a man in front of our reading eyes so that each phase of his life and his means of expressing it rings true.

Using the form of a diary enables characters from different times to communicate their story in one book, it allows for times when nothing happens and in the case of Any Human Heart it gives readers a view of someone's un-edited thoughts. A diary can juxtapose two or more different voices and can provide insight into real thoughts and opinions that contrast with what a person says and portrays.

Could you write your life story or anyone else's in the form of a diary?
Can you identify some other amazing works of fiction that have been written in the form of a diary?
Write a food or mood diary for yourself this week.
write a diary entry that sets out what you did on a particular day. Make sure you include your inner thoughts and motivations. It is the anomalies and flaws in characters that make readers bond with them. Reveal yours to show the different sides of your nature.

Animal Voices

I'm reading War Horse by Michael Morpurgo at the moment. It's one of those books described as a crossover book because of its appeal to younger readers as well as adult readers. I'm enjoying the book and find it full of emotional detail as well as factual and historical information. Every once in a while I have to brush aside the little question mark that, for me, hangs over stories told in animal voices.
There are other famous examples of animal voices such as in Watership Down, which is also an emotionally vivid story, and also a crossover book. A look in the bookshop or library would reveal dozens of books written for children, using an animal protagonist. And there's the film Babe, whose pig protagonist has put some people off bacon butties forever.
If you look at the writing requirements for various women's magazines they don't want stories told in the voice of an animal. Perhaps they believe that finding out the protagonist was Snowy the owl all along weakens the potential and the integrity of the ending. Perhaps for them animal endings have been overdone.
Where do you stand on animals as protagonists? Animals who recognise makes of car and military uniforms? Animals with opinions?

As an exercise, write two or three opening paragraphs of a novel about a family from a rural community in the voice of an animal that they own.

Write the same piece again from the point of view of a human being that is close to the animal and can judge the motives for its behaviour.

Is it something you could get used to?

Art as a writing prompt

I'm running a writing group at Oldham Lifelong Learning Centre at the moment. It's a fantastic building that contains a library, theatre, IT suites, gift shop, cafe, classrooms and several galleries with permanent and visiting exhibits.

I will be going into the galleries with the group in search of inspiration. This is something I've done many times in many galleries and the results have always been fantastic.

Why not try it. I went with some writers to the LS Lowry gallery in Salford. The day was good and the gallery was filled with people of all ages sprawling and writing and drawing as they looked at the paintings by L S Lowry.

We used a prompt to create some pieces. We found a painting or exhibit we liked - an outdoor scene. We wrote about how the scene appeared at various times of the day. For example if we looked at a picture of a woman pushing a pram in daylight, we imagined why she might push it at night in the dark, how she would feel. Some paintings were of night time scenes and we imagined what the area would be like in the day.

Have a go at this. Look for images on line or call in to your local gallery.

Write a story, a poem or a monologue. 


galleryoldham.org.uk

thelowry.com

Omens and superstitions

I run a craft / textile class and recently we had to move from a building we've used for a long time and liked, to a building in a different area. It was necessary as money had to be saved and our new home is well run and pleasant. However since we started in January someone has been violently ill in class and another has wept. Alarmingly, I showed someone how to do a blanket stitch and I pricked my finger. I thought nothing of it until my blood appeared on the work. I've never bled on a piece of work yet. This person received bad news a few days later.

What a time we've had. What would a superstitious person make of that?

Although superstitious rituals weren't encouraged when I was growing up I am aware of them. I went to school with people whose parents were superstitious and who had rituals for all kinds of situations such as walking near ladders, buying purses or spilling salt.

As an adult I believe in omens and really wish I didn't. Sentences and images stand out and cause me concern. The work of Gabriel Garcia Marquez is informed by superstition. He was brought up with his grandparents who were extremely superstitious.

Perhaps in the past people made sense of life with such rituals.


Write a story about a drop of blood being spilled on something. You choose the situation.
The story can be funny, serious, dark, gothic, modern or historical.
What does the spilled blood signify to the people in the story?
What events are going on in their lives that seem more or less significant once the drop of blood has been shed.?

What words, phrases or expressions exist to describe blood.

Write a list of colours that might describe the colour of blood.

Read Gabriel Garcia Marquez.

gabrielgarciamarquez.org

superstitions and omens

   

magazine fiction

Workshop for would be magazine fiction writers. Hope you can make it.

Remembrance

Today is Holocaust Remembrance Day. So many dreadful stories have emerged from this period of history and many of them have taken a long time to tell.

In some research I did on this period of history one group of people who were persecuted as the Nazis pursued a pure race were Romanies. It was customary for this group of people to pass on their stories verbally at gatherings of families and friends. Artefacts, objects and heirlooms didn't seem to be a feature of their lives and it is quite possible that whole areas of their history have been destroyed for ever.

If you have time to research you could consider some of the people who were sent to concentration camps, political prisoners, for example. There were others. Write diary entries for the week before they were captured. Try to imagine or research the ordinary events of their lives as well as anything extraordinary.

world war sinti